Finding Your People with Justin Breen

george grombacher 0:02
Well, this is George G and the time is right welcome today’s guest strong and powerful Justin Breen. Justin, are you ready to do this?

Justin Breen 0:09
No beacons, go.

george grombacher 0:11
Let’s go. Justin is a Wall Street Journal and USA Today best selling author, Republican relations expert. He is the creator of serendipitous meetings, a coach and a mentor. excited to have you on Justin, tell us a little about your personal life more about your work? Why you do what you do?

Justin Breen 0:31
Yeah, I love your energy. I’m a dad who happens to be an entrepreneur and purpose of life is to be connecting superhero for every visionary who shares their stories with the world. So either spending time with wife and our 10 year old eight year old son or connecting top visionaries on the planet. It’s endlessly fun for me.

george grombacher 0:52
I love it. So just to close the loop on the beacon thing, I went to Valparaiso University, which used to be called the Crusaders. And Justin was what is what is your connection? Again, Justin.

Speaker 2 1:04
I was sports editor sports reporter and covered the then Crusaders, multiple sports and then you let me know they’re called the beacons now. Which is just a terrible NIC. It’s terrible. Like I wouldn’t I mean, I can’t even imagine how much they invested and there was probably a committee on it. Like that’s just the that’s just not good. Crusaders was a much better. Like Mark head did a pretty good job. They went from the warriors to the golden eagles. That’s not bad. But Crusaders, the beacons that’s just doesn’t work.

george grombacher 1:40
Yeah, pretty, pretty bush league right there. Just

Justin Breen 1:43
Yeah, well, hey, it’s your school. I mean, was there a protest after that? Or I don’t you played athletics there.

george grombacher 1:49
I did. It’s all true. I was not involved in the decision making process. Nobody bounced any ideas off of me or solicited my input advice or anything at all? So I feel this was thrust upon me, as opposed to something that I played a part in.

Speaker 2 2:07
I don’t really know what it is like what like, what does that even mean?

george grombacher 2:12
Yeah, what comes into my mind is a beacon of hope or beacon of light.

Unknown Speaker 2:16
I don’t know Lighthouse or something. I don’t know what that

george grombacher 2:20
Yeah. Screaming lighthouses Okay, better.

Unknown Speaker 2:26
Note that it like, I don’t even know what the?

george grombacher 2:30
Well, perhaps the three of us, are you and I can, can, can get on a podcast with some administrator at Valparaiso

Speaker 2 2:38
University. Get their mascot is a lighthouse that

george grombacher 2:45
we need answers, we need answers,

Speaker 2 2:48
like it like are the pregame ceremony like a lighthouse spinning? Like what are we doing here?

george grombacher 2:54
Yeah. I think we’re gonna have to do with a little bit of ambiguity and unanswered questions until we get answers to those questions to clear up that ambiguity.

Unknown Speaker 3:04
So thank you. Thank you,

george grombacher 3:06
nevertheless. All right. So connecting visionaries. How does one go from being a writing columns and a newspaper and being a reporter to doing what you’re doing now.

Speaker 2 3:18
So you’re either born top entrepreneur or not, I firmly believe someone would choose this life, but they’re they don’t have. They don’t have the coping skills. They don’t have the coping skills. So are the hustle or the drive. I mean, I think most people would choose to sit in their backyard, which is where I’m at now and hanging out with their family and make as much money as you want to and hanging out with certain type of people, but they’re not able to overcome. I haven’t met one entrepreneur. People like us that have not overcome at least one of the following four things most or two or three. And then most of the people I talked to now are threes and fours. So the four things that separate entrepreneurs from humans are bankruptcy or potential bankruptcy to depression, three highest level of anxiety that you can imagine and for likely and are possible traumatic experiences as a child or young adult. So for humans, consultants, business owners, those are excuses. Entrepreneur at the highest level, figure it out. So in 2017, had jobs salary cut in half couldn’t find a job. incorporated with zero business background. That was April 16 2017. So almost as of this recording six years ago to today, so incorporated and then while I was working full time at Half Salary, over six weeks reached out to 5000 people to find first five clients. Got fifth client resigned the next day and then rapper feeder who at the time was the top media columnist in Chicago did a story I started my own firm. So that was just the start first company, most people, that’s they’re not equipped to be able to do something like that. But that’s what entrepreneur life is.

george grombacher 5:07
Got it. So that’s how it happened. Now you connect visionaries, expand a little bit more about on on what that means and what you’re actually going.

Speaker 2 5:19
Yep. That’s a great question. And you’re definitely high in strategy, which I appreciate the. So my brain turns everything into patterns. And so talking to visionaries, I blah, blah, blah, and then simplify into a pattern or an answer. So just giving you that background because every answer I have is basically a pattern but so the formula for creating a successful global company is surprisingly simple. It’s you see a problem, create solution problem solve successful global companies. So you see a problem, great solution, problem solve successful global company. So first company was a journalist for 20 years created an entire company based on how PR firms annoyed me for 20 years, so annoyed by PR firms created a solution solved it, successful global companies. So all I hear from visionaries, the same problem, we’re tired of being best seeker, we want to be in more news media, usually at a global level to create more validity and credibility for our brands, so it’s the same formula here, blah, blah, blah, simplify the message, and then becomes a link on partners website. So look like a story you see in LA Times are New York Times whatever, and then pick that link, pitch it to media all over the world. And then media is interested. So works for any size company, any industry. Any location, that doesn’t matter. We just only partner with visionaries who want to change the world, though.

george grombacher 6:48
Excellent. What was so annoying about PR as as as you observed it?

Speaker 2 6:53
What was the problem? Yeah. So what was the problem? So as a journalist, you receive hundreds of useless press releases every single day from people you don’t know, that’s annoying. And these press releases are doubly annoying, because it talks about what someone does. And no one cares about what you do, as opposed to talking about who someone is. And if people do care about who you are, then they will care about what you do. So create a solution to that write stories about who someone is blend in a little bit of what they do and then and then connect people based on real human connection. So it’s not something you don’t know. So problem solving.

george grombacher 7:31
So what is public relations?

Speaker 2 7:34
I don’t know. I have no idea. I’ve actually never understood what it is, you probably know better than I do. I’ve never I literally have no idea what PR firms do. When I first started, first company, I would look because I would ask when I first started, I would ask other PR firms what they did, and I there was never an answer. Like I never knew what exactly they did. So my company’s entire process. The first one, it’s literally on the website, there’s no like this is what company does. Sports steps and and we only partner with visionary. So we do one thing for one type of person. So it eliminates What do you cost or charge it eliminates people that are trying to change their world that eliminates nickel and dime thinking. And so there hasn’t been anything outbound in years, it’s just creating value for top performing visionaries. And then they create value for me, it eliminates all this other stuff that most people are living in.

george grombacher 8:35
So you create value for top performing visionaries. And that value takes the form of exposure, opportunities that they will

Speaker 2 8:44
credibility, all of the above. So like, it’s saying, then what media has transformed into and you’re literally a living example. It shows like these are replacing mainstream media in terms of importance and relevance for people like us, not for humans, but people like us, but for three reasons because that turned everything into a pattern. So the host is a visionary, not journalist. So they’re coming from a place of abundance, not scarcity. A regular journalists would never ask questions like you’re asking right now, they just want to because they don’t think like this, too, you can do a deep dive on someone 20 minutes, 30 minutes an hour. So it’s not a drive by interview, like you see in TV or radio. So you get to know the subject and the host. So people get to know you too, buddy. And then third, the most important that I’ve seen is that the audience might not be as large quantity wise, but it’s a far more qualified audience. So a regular humans probably not listening to this. I mean, maybe they are but I doubt it. But a high performing entrepreneur will listen to this. So what shows like this, these are transformational platforms for entrepreneurs, that sort of thing. With their

george grombacher 9:53
love it. So is it just the way that it’s always been done when traditional PR focuses on what somebody does versus who they are.

Justin Breen 10:03
While you are really focused on the problem, which I appreciate, I appreciate that. So like, the the answer to that is yes, it’s like, or like PR, you know, these newswire things, like, what is that actually doing? It’s not really doing like you get your logos and stuff on on your site. But are you actually meeting the right people who will actually impact your company or collaborate with you on things? So and then people like us are usually aliens within our own family community and verticals, the only people that don’t understand us are top performing entrepreneurs on planet. So when I was a journalist, I was actually an entrepreneur who happened to be a journalist, had no idea why people were writing about negative news or political stuff, or if it bleeds, it leads. And then journalists who are journalists had no idea what I was writing about, and connecting cool people changing the world. So that’s all I do now. I guess it’s through PR, I guess, whatever that means. But it’s just really connecting with people changing the world who want to share their stories with the world.

george grombacher 11:08
So the notion of people like us do things like this.

Speaker 2 11:14
People like us are outliers. So and then you’ve seen gaps in, you know, whatever it is the financial industry, or talking to business owners or talking to visionary. So you create a solution to it, you solve that successful global company. So then you’re partnering with places like cold the I mean, that’s what I call these full outliers. I mean, full outliers, I like cold. I mean, for those who don’t know, cold, it is my favorite thing on the planet, besides my family, and then doing this, but it’s how your brain takes action. It’s not your personality. And so that’s the one thing I write down before I meet someone has their name and their Colby score. And then most visionaries, people like us, most of them are very high Quickstart, very low follow through. So that’s ADHD diagnosed or undiagnosed. So if they don’t hire a bunch of people, nothing will get done. And then I’m the very rare visionary that has high Quickstart, high follow through and high Fact Finder. So say, do it hit the gas pump, the brakes, just gets executed.

george grombacher 12:13
So in an engagement with one of your clients, how do you gauge success?

Speaker 2 12:23
Do they meet people that they never were able to meet before and then collaborate with them on things? That is how I look at success? I don’t look at ROI. I don’t look at sales of products. I don’t. And by the way, most visionaries don’t look at ROI and sales of products. Also, they look at real human connection, collaborators, potential investors, I think in I’m six years as an entrepreneur I’ve gotten in the last two years, and certainly maybe the ROI question five or six times, so couple times a year. Mostly what I hear is we’re tired of being best secret and we want we want to be connected to the right people who can become potential investors or collaborators or co founders, partners, clients, all that stuff.

george grombacher 13:16
So lucky to be connected with the right people. We’re not in obscurity, but not as we’re just not currently connected with enough of the right people. My set right

Speaker 2 13:30
now you are a great strategist and Grayson. Yes, that would be that’d be it. Yeah.

george grombacher 13:37
Got it. Okay. And how do we how do we figure out the right people? What is what is right mean?

Speaker 2 13:43
Well, for me, I don’t know what other people think. And so I’m dead last and empathy and Strength Finders dead let and second to last and include her. For people like us. I have endless empathy, endlessly endless inclusion, I don’t understand. People who make excuses or don’t want to change the world like it’s like a foreign concept. So for me, the right answer is we only partner with visionaries, who live in abundance and who look at things as investments, not costs. So not humans, not consultants, not business owners only visionaries. And then there’s no What do you cost are charged there’s no scarcity? There’s none of that because people that live in abundance and investment mindset do not want to be introduced to people that ask what do you cost or charge they do not want they do not want people that are trying to change their world. They want to meet people that are changing the world. So it eliminates 99.9% of the world but that’s okay, because 1% of 8 billion people is 8 million visionaries. So there’s, there’s a million visionaries floating around there and they all want connections to the other visionaries.

george grombacher 14:53
Is that idea the importance of abundance and investment over scarcity and cost? Is that something that you’ve innately always known or come upon that.

Speaker 2 15:04
Always. It’s always been there. So again, people like us are usually aliens within their own family community and verticals. The only people who understand us are top performing entrepreneurs on planet. So I’ve always talked like this, always, I’ve always wanted to change the world. I’ve always wanted to connect cool people changing the world have found that the only people understand what I’m talking about are top entrepreneurs on planet. So for most of my life was talking to people that had no idea what I was talking about. And just over the last couple of years, certainly, since being part of very high level, entrepreneurial groups have really found that those are the people that not only you understand, but I can actually learn from them. And I like to be the dumbest person in the room. Otherwise, it’s not the right room for me.

george grombacher 15:54
Right? constantly having to find new rooms.

Speaker 2 15:58
Well, not anymore. i That’s a good point. Not anymore, because it took you know, I’m 46 now just turned 46. So probably the first 40 years and might well even the first 40 to 43 years of life, I was in the wrong room. So the last three years, I found the right room. And now most if not all of these folks have been entrepreneurs much longer than me so. So it’s the I’m in the right rooms now, and can still learn a ton, which is great.

george grombacher 16:32
Yeah. So I’m curious about it a typical engagement. What does that look like when you get connected to somebody? And how do you know if it’s a good fit? And then what

Speaker 2 16:42
they already know. Okay, that’s yeah, so and you’re a full strategist, the context input learner strategist, and up probably a high Fact Finder to the just as background, literally, anything, a high Fact Finder, or strategist would want to know is on the company’s website, just because you’ll probably go to this now after this and look, but it’s WW graphic llc.com. So the process is there endorsements, examples, videos, our partners, logos, like all of that stuff is there. Okay, so, but there’s only one process, there’s only one thing that we do, we write stories, it becomes links on partners website. And then we take that link and pitch it to media. On average, on average, our partners are introduced to at least 4040 media opportunities. So that can be TV, radio, newspapers, niche publications shows like these entrepreneurial things. And what has happened, which I’d never expected is that hosts want to interview me first. And they want to interview PR partners. I never expected that. But it’s like a key that opens up endless doors. So it just never stops. Never stops opening doors. Does that answer your strategy? It does. Question or do you need more information? Now? I think that’s good. Okay, good. I’m trying to relate to your brain.

george grombacher 18:22
Yeah. Oh, it’s a it’s a lot simpler than I think people. People think but anyway,

Speaker 2 18:31
process. Yes. Right answer? Well, you’re a simplifier. You’re 100% simplifier. I’m guessing your company companies are 100% multipliers. That’s That’s what I’m 100% simplifier. And then companies are 100% multipliers. I just want to make it as simple as possible.

george grombacher 18:52
I love it. Well, Justin, thank you so much for coming on. Where can people learn more about you? And what’s the best way for people to engage? I know you gave us the website, but give us that again?

Speaker 2 19:01
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, we’ll have to talk again, the BR epic llc.com. And strategy context wise, there’s a mindset scorecard survey on there. takes five minutes. It’s through the Strategic Coach platform. I’m very grateful to be in that group, top entrepreneur group and one of them on the planet and then people qualify or disqualify themselves with their own mindsets. It’s really fascinating to see that in real time.

george grombacher 19:27
Excellent. What’s the website again?

Speaker 2 19:31
br epic l llc.com BREPIC llc.com.

george grombacher 19:37
All right. Well, if you enjoy as much as I did, or just in your appreciation and share today’s show with friend who also appreciates good ideas go to B r e p IC llc.com br epic llc.com. Take advantage of that scorecard survey and find out if you are a good fit Have Justin is a good fit and philosophies and interests are aligned and all that good stuff and go from there thanks again Justin Thank you my friend and until next time remember do your part by doing your best

Transcribed by https://otter.ai